Ken Stern is an author who used to be the CEO of NPR, immersed in a liberal culture. To write his latest book, however, he spent a year exploring a number of communities and talking to people on the opposite side of the political perspective. The result is Republican Like Me, How I Left the Liberal Bubble and Learned to Love the Right.

Stern talks about the process of writing his book and the conclusions he came to. He set out to chronicle a very different experience, but he was repeatedly surprised by the similarities he found between his own values and that of Conservatives – at NASCAR races, in churches and more. While the country as a whole seems to be more divided, Americans are individually not that different from one another. They discuss the Constitution, Trump, the news and more.

Also on the podcast, Chuck and Mark talk about what Trump has achieved in his first year, plus all the bizarre things the government funds that we still need to work on cutting.

About the guest:

Ken Stern is the president of Palisades Media Ventures and the author of With Charity for All: Why Charities Are Failing and a Better Way to Give. He was formerly the CEO of NPR. He is also a frequent contributor to Vanity Fair, the Atlantic, Slate, the Daily Beast, the Washington Post, the Chronicle of Philanthropy, and other publications. He lives in Washington, DC.